Wheeling Sunday register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1882-1934, 1887-01-02
NEXT TO IMPOSSIBLE.
some Actual Occurrences That Seem 10
Ordinary Folks Quite Beyond the Bounds
of Probability.
AHri P Marble in Journal o. Education.

Some Actual Occurrences That Seem Il
Ordinary Folks Quite Beyond the Bound
of Probability.
l albert P Marble in Journal o. Education.
In my college days l joined the grand
- old fraternity of the Zeta Psi. | had d
gold pin tor badge, studded with Jets,
enamelled, chased engraved with EN-.
blems, the taSces, the deaths head and
other mystic symbols On the back my
name was cut in full. As the years after
, graduating rolled by, this badge no longer
, symbolized the whole large world. be-
came memory. Many men did not rec
Ognize its mystic symbolism. 1t repOSed
in the case My little daughters some
times wore it. But one day missed the
stud from my shirt bosom. 1t
, was Sunday, and nearly church
time. The pin took the place
of the stud, and on my way home through
the crowded streets the pin was lost. On Il
holiday year after, while hurVing with
gripSack in hand To take train, | met in
the crowd man, evidently Il laborer, in his
best clothes, and fastened in the knot of
his necktie was the badge. To reflect that
the man did not know the mystery OF that
pin, that the badge was mine, was the
work of moment. stopped him.
Where did you get that pin?' | asked.
The answer appeared rs if written on the
the retina OF his dilated eyes He had
found ii on the street. | told him the
name on the back; ne gave me the pin and
| | caught my train. How many chances
were there Of his finding my pin? of his
being there? that day? in his good
clothes? with the pin in sight? of my be-
| ing there? meeting him seeing the pin q?
IL.
/ For year or two the pin was now kept
| in safety. But another stud disappeared at
/ length. Again a hurry, again the pin in
place of the stud, and lost again! Gone
for good and all this time, - | said to my
self, ms any one would say, and good
enough for the careless man" Two years,
and on coming to my dinner late one day,
found the pin under my plate where my
wife had placed it, With it was the card
OF hotel at San Padre, or San Something
else, Cal A neighbOr OF mine, Mr.. Bow
ker had bought it, He had been travel
ing for pleasure all over the Western States
and TcrritOTieS-tO Santa Fe, Los Angeles,
MaripoSa, Puget Sound, Siika, San Fran
cisco. He wandered up the Sacramento, he
rode on stages through mountain gOrges
aud deep canOns, and one day he stopped
at the hotel in San Padre. While there
he received by mail a copy Ola daily paper
from my city. 1t reported a meeting of Il
society of which am amember; my name
was in the report He left the paper on
the table; the landlord picked it up, saw
my name, and on my friends return asked
him il he knew that man, and sent me the
pin. As frequently happened, the land
lord said, man had called there hungry
and with no money, and had left the PIN to
pay for his dinner This man had
picked up the pin ON the pave
ment near the railroad station
in my city, gone to CaliiOr-
MIA, wandered about, and finally left it ut
the hotel Now, what were the chances
that he would 90 to California, of all
places in the world to san Pedro of all
places in the State? 10 this particular hO
tel, hungry, pennieSS, and leave the PIN?
that Mr.: BOwker would 90 there? receive Il
paper there? and that particular paper in
stead of any two or three others? that the
meeting would be reported; that my name
should appear in lull-which seldom hap
pens? that the landlord should see the pa
per, and the name, and recognize it? and
send back the pin? That this pin should
chances that it could twice be recovered
were inlntesimally small.
III.
Miss Ella T.. Cooper is a teacher here,
~ Il. 4
Smith is the agent of a New York publish
ing house They met, in vacation, by the
SEA. They were introduced; they COnvcrSed;
it may be they danced and played cards;
they were congenial, probably; and they
didn't talk shop. In the natural course of
events they parted at length. But he did
not forget. When he next came to this city
he called Myrtle street-but she was
not at home; he called again and asked for
Miss Cooper YES, said the servant,
she is in; step into the drawingrOom
and will call her The servant disap-
peared: the gentleman seated himself, hat
and cane in hand. Soon the lady appear
ed; she did not look natural; alas she had
changed. 81 am Mr.. Smith," said he;
Miss Cooper II am Miss Hooper
Ella f. Hooper" said she. He: as not
3 Myrtle street." She "This is , Myr-
tie place" Explanations. How many
chances were there that my friend Smith
would find Miss Ella T.. Hooper at Myr-
tie street? that Myrtle street should turn
at right angles, and that the angle should
be continued rs Myrtle place; and that he
should stand vis-a-vis with the beautiful
Miss Hooper instead of the charming Miss
Cooper, who has never since seen Smith:
On such slender threa..% does fate hang te-
male fortunes
".
During the late war Governor Andrew
told his private secretary, Brown, to carry
! a bundle of dispatches, one afternoon, TO
| Mr.. Henry 0. Reed, Belkuap street, Bos-
/ ton, who would take the four o'clock train
on the Boston and Albany Railroad and
/ deliver them at Il certain small town whose
name do not remember in New York